FLOWER POWER: BEE-ING A LEADER

Think of yourself as a bee pollinating flowers every morning when you make your Friendly Five rounds. That’s the way Walt Disney characterized his leadership style.

Disney compared himself to a bumble bee “going from one area in the studio to another to stimulate everybody.”

Pollinating the blossoming of others is an instructive metaphor for the essence of a loving leader.

No wonder the most effective leaders schedule no formal meetings for at least the first hour “in the office.”

(This is an excerpt of a newly relaunched book titledLOVING Like a Leader now available on Amazon.com

That’s why the most effective leaders invest in the Friendly Five every day when they devote at least five minutes to personally visiting with each of their employees and talking about their personal issues first and work-related issues second.

Loving leaders know that if they spend a few minutes first thing each day visiting with each of their direct reports at their workstation—virtually taking their temperature—they will more fully assess the fluid working environment in time to preempt at least a few problems and increase morale. And BEE an even more productive leader.